The Spectacle Blog

Her refusal to step, well, aside, Harris's decision to resign her House seat -- if this is what she decides to do -- probably won't wash well with those young staffers who were counting on her being in the House for a while. This is a staff that has taken a beating of late, and to watch their boss essentially fire them mid-year is not a way to encourage continued effort on their part.

This evening the Senate will vote on a proposal by Senators Olympia Snowe and Ron Wyden to replace the new Medicare drug benefit's competitive pricing model with a single payer drug system controlled by the government. Senator Wyden likes to compare his proposal to Costco getting a good deal for consumers on toilet paper.

Except that Wyden actually opposed his own proposal seven years ago when President Clinton introduced a Medicare drug benefit that barred the government from setting or negotiating prices for nearly half the prescription drug market. My new partner in crime at the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest Peter Pitts blogged on this at drugwonks.com:

Ummah source reports that the State Department has established Dubai as the new Berlin of the Cold War with Iran.

Behind the Harem Curtain. Part 1.

Dubai is State's watchtower, where it has staffed 12 extra positions to connect with Iranian dissenters and liberation movements. This means that it is where the Iranians are watching the U.S. as well, and within 24 hours of State announcing its funding of freedom speakers, the Iranian secret police started rolling up big mouths in Tehran.

The dissenter celebration, Fire Festival, celebrated on March 14 throughout Iran, was a success. Tens of thousands of young people turned out to celebrate an ancient Zoroastrian holiday not because they are thinking of converting but because it is a way to remember Iran before Islam conquered Persia. To speak of the Zoroasters is a way of decrying the Shia mullahcrats at Qom.

(My memory is that Zoroaster has in it the root "aster" from which English gets the word "star.")

Jack Nicklaus has had at least two spasms of very serious money/business troubles, near bankruptcy. So personal and business history might reveal some skeletons, and Nicklaus himself would probably recoil from the idea of self-financing.

Don't forget he lives in two states, Florida and Ohio. In which does he vote?

The Prowler's latest report certainly sounds like the Katherine Harris I know. If she does indeed take this course, conservatives everywhere should applaud -- and open their wallets. If I had a nickel for every good conservative candidate cowed out of a race due to threats from the GOP suits...let's roll, Katherine!

Finally, the insufferable Mike Wallace has decided to hang it up. Excellent news.

I've never been a fan of Wallace's, but my distaste turned to loathing a few years back when, while serving as emcee of a dinner for the pro-gun control Brady Center (at the French embassy, natch), Wallace mocked Charlton Heston and actually made fun of the fact that the legendary actor and activist had developed Alzheimer's disease.

(Of course, the NRA protested this and received an assurance from CBS News that Mr. Wallace would from that point forward never be allowed to cover 2nd Amendment issues for the network again -- a promise it seems to have kept.)

National Review Online is reporting that they hear Rep. Katherine Harris does not intend to step out of the Florida Senate race, and to underscore that point, she will resign from the House.

They only have part of the story, according to Harris sources we speak to. Late last week, Harris was approached by both senior Senate Republicans and intermediaries from the White House about stepping out of the race for the good of party.

According to one Senate official we spoke to, Harris very bluntly told them to forget about it. When told they had strong interest from a well-known, respected former Florida elected official in jumping in, her response was that she welcomed the competition. When they responded that the GOP would begin to make fundraising more difficult, she revealed nary a frown.

Wlady -- Over the course of his career, Nicklaus learned how to turn on the charm at will, and I've seen him, up close, on more than one occasion, suffer fools incredibly well, with a big smile on his face. And he is unfailingly polite with the press corps, even when the reporters don't deserve it. Meanwhile, he and Barbara have engendered a tremendous amount of good will through their work in the community in Florida and through their enthusiasm for and approachability during the many school athletic contests their five children have been a part of. Finally, no worries about Russia: Russian bears are red or pink; Jack is golden!

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